1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatuses, systems and methods for marshaling resources needed to search for a missing child, declaring a missing child incident, coordinating a search for the missing child, tracking the progress of the search, locating the missing child, and recovering the missing child.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems such as radio and television broadcast networks, facsimiles, telegraph services, wired and wireless telephone systems, and computer driven display systems are known that may be used to communicate the loss of a missing child to the public.
Such systems have been used to convey information by way of one-way communications, not only to the public, but also to law enforcement authorities. Thereafter, the child's Guardian or family typically relies on law enforcement to follow through to a successful recovery of the missing child.
Systems including Tracalert are known that require a device to be located on the person of the user. By detecting signals emitted by the device, the user of the system is located. Such systems require maintenance of a special-purpose device, do not provide for the contingency of the user or child being separated from the device, and do not provide for the coordination of a search, or the location and recovery of a lost child.
Further, a number of universities have campus alert systems where a student communicates by way of a cell phone his/her starting location, and the expected time of arrival at a cross-campus location. If no notice of arrival is received from the student within an expected travel time, campus police are alerted to commence a search. The campus system does not, however, address a search, track, location, or recovery of a lost person.
In addition, GTX Corp of 117 West Ninth Street, #1214, Los Angeles, Calif. 90015, markets a personal location services (PLS) platform that is part of a system that may include miniaturized GPS tracking and cellular location-transmitting products. The system requires that a locating device be worn by the subject, and does not provide for the search for a missing person beyond the location of the device.
US Patent Application No. 2008/0113614 discloses a system requiring not only a device on the person of the child, but also a device on the person of the Guardian. A location program is executed through a distributed network to locate the child. No provision is disclosed for locating the lost child if separated from the device, for coordinating a search effort, for tracking the progress of a search, for enlisting the aid of others, for escalating a missing child incident if a risk of danger arises or the scope of enlisted resources falls short of need, or for recovering the lost child.
The Code Adam search facility is a well known and largely manual search process where employees of a participating establishment are provided a verbal announcement that a child is lost in the building, and sometimes provided a verbal description of the child and the clothes the child was wearing at the time of the loss incident. If the child is not found within ten minutes, law enforcement is called. Again, there are no proactive exchanges with Responders to coordinate and track a search process, and there is no provision for escalating the search if the child is believed to be in danger, or if the search process requirements exceed the scope of available search resources.
The Amber Alert Program is a known partnership among law enforcement agencies, broadcasters, and transportation agencies that act to broadcast a missing child's description and image, and thereby galvanize an entire community to assist in searching for the child. “Wireless Amber Alert” is an associated initiative that distributes Amber Alerts across a broad geographic region to wireless subscribers whose carrier participates in the Wireless Amber Alert. The Amber Alert Program is limited to children 17 years or younger, and requires reasonable belief by a law enforcement agency that the child is in imminent danger, and that an abduction has occurred. Further, registration of the incident with the National Crime Information Center is required before publication of the incident occurs. Delays of 24 hours are common. No tracking of information flows or coordination of search efforts occurs.
Other systems with limited utility are known that require an initial gathering of pre-event information such as identity, contact information, and photos for display through cell phone communications to a select group of friends or Responders. In these systems, the child is required to display his stored information to bystanders. Further, such systems fail to publish the existence of a missing child incident, and fail to follow through by coordinating a search, locate, and recovery effort. Nor do such systems have any facility for dynamically preparing, updating, and sharing search information among designated participants after the child is declared missing, or for escalating the search to include added resources such as search and rescue services, broadcast facilities such as satellite communications and broadcast networks, or raising the risk assessment as the need arises.